~ have books will travel ~

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

The Laureates' Table is the title of a new promotion by British bookseller Waterstone. It marks the 10th anniversary of the Children's Laureateship and features selections (seven each) made by children's laureates Quentin Blake, Anne Fine, Michael Morpurgo, Jacqueline Wilson and Michael Rosen.

(Harry Potter doesn't make the list, but I'm not at LL surprised :-) )

Sunday, August 31, 2008

It's the return of the mini review! The last time I wrote one was in May, 2007! A blog reader Terri Green has inspired me to start again. She asked, in an email, if I had written any mini reviews of my favourite Noel Streatfeild books, as I'd promised in one of my posts. I had to admit I hadn't - oh, the shame! Well, I'm going to, Terri, and here's the first:

The House in CornwallBy Noel StreatfeildPublisher: Dragon, 139 pagesISBN: 583300979

Three children (siblings Edward, Sorrell and Wish) are sent to Cornwall to spend six weeks of the summer with their uncle Murdock as the cousin they usually stay with during the holidays is ill (their parents are abroad).

They are quite anxious at the thought of staying with Murdock as they have never met him. Murdock used to live in Livia (a fictitious country) where he assisted in toppling the monarchy. Murdock then worked as chief of staff of the dictator Manoff. A counter-revolution resulted in his return to his mansion in the West country.

At Murdock's mansion, the three children find that they are treated like prisoners. They are watched and guarded at all times and have no contact with the outside world - forbidden access to newspapers and the radio.

Their suspicions that something fishy is going on are confirmed when they hear a child crying in the gardener's house!

This is quite unlike most of the other Streatfeild books I own, which are set in the world of dance and/or theatre. It's more like an Enic Blyton mystery. In fact, it is very like Blyton's The Secret of Spiggy Holes, which is also set in Cornwall and features kidnapped royalty.

However, although the characters in Cornwall don't dance, act or sing, they are still recognisably Streatfeild creations, and this means they are much more developed than Blytons ever are. For example, although Sorrell is a young lady who is quite house-proud and motherly - like Anne in the Famous Five series - her character, unlike Anne, is an active one, and there is some attempt to explore her personality and develop it in tandem with the plot.

I do like corny mysteries with flashing lights and strange sounds in the night, mysterious strangers and pesky kids who are always able to outwit the grownups. Another book I am reminded of whenever I re-read Cornwall is Blyton's The Circus of Adventure, which features yet another Ruritanian royal. These stories require a huge suspension of disbelief, but this comes quite naturally, even automatically, to me when I enter such worlds as are featured in them.

Sunday, June 08, 2008

WHO remembers reading The Magic Faraway Tree? When I was about six, I discovered this book and the others in the series, and re-read them constantly.

I was recently reminded of these magical stories when I found The Enchanted Wood (the first book in a series of four) in a box sent all the way from Yorkshire, England.

The box contained things that those who had filled it felt were
quintessentially English. It was sent to Kuala Lumpur and, in return, a
box, filled with quintessentially Malaysian things, was sent to
Yorkshire.

The exchange of boxes was just one component of a
year-long cultural exchange project between young Malaysian and English
arts practitioners.

On opening the “York box”, each Malaysian participant chose an
object that “spoke” personally to him or her. Of course, I chose the
book.

Not only was it significant to me because I write about children’s lit, The Enchanted Wood also immediately reminded me of my childhood.

Friday, September 03, 2004

What I remember most clearly (and like the best) about this book is the children (Dinah, Roger, Snubby, Barney) and their pets (Loony the Spaniel and Miranda the Monkey) being snowed in in a big house, called Rat-A-Tat, in the middle of nowhere: When you are growing up in a hot country like Malaysia, it sounds really thrilling to be surrounded by frosty white snow!

The kids are spending Christmas without any adults except a housekeeper called Miss Tickle. They have Rat-A-Tat House to themselves and really enjoy their independence and freedom. They spend the days having snowball fights, going tabogganing and building a snowman. It's the snowman that kicks off this mystery actually - Dinah sees it peering in at a window one night, but he's gone the next moment! Could she have been seeing things?

A little later on, the kids are woken in the middle of the night by a loud rapping noise. Things are getting decidedly spooky!

When Snubby goes to investigate some noises coming from the cellar he never returns! When he does escape, he and his companions figure out that a group of arms smugglers are using Rat-A-Tat to stash their goods!

This is the fifth in Blyton's series of R mysteries, which are not as popular or well-known as the Famous Five, Secret Seven or Five Find Outers books.

In this series Roger and Dinah are brother and sister (and have a more equal relationship that the siblings in Famous Five or Five Find Outers) and Snubby is their cousin. Barney is a circus boy. The others meet him and his pet monkey in The Rockingdown Mystery. Later on, Barney is reunited with his long-lost dad who turns out to be a very wealthy and very jolly chap!

I remember having a bit of a crush on Barney, but Snubby and his crazy dog, appropriately named Loony, always annoyed me.

The entire series is available in most MPH outlets in Malaysia. I have certainly seen all six titles in MPH's megastore in 1Utama's new wing.

Sunday, June 20, 2004

FIVE GO ON A HIKE TOGETHER
By Enid Blyton
(Hodder Children's Books, 160 pages)
Continuing my series of reviews on my favourite books by Enid Blyton, here's one I like to read in bed, on rainy days.

It's got quite a dark, mysterious vibe, especially the scenes set in an abandoned house called Two Trees, by a lake called Gloomy Water ...

Anyway, in this adventure, the five set off on one of their holidays in the countryside. A couple of days into the outing, Timmy the Dog goes lame and has to see a vet. The kids split into two groups (Julian, George and Timmy, and Anne and Dick) and arrange to meet at Blue Pond Farm. Trouble is, it starts to rain really heavily, and Dick and Anne lose their way and end up in a different place.

Dick spends the night in a barn and is woken up in the middle of the night by a strange man who seems know his name! The man passes him a piece of paper on which is written a list of names, including Two Trees and Gloomy Water!

When the five are reunited the next day, they discover that one of the inmates at a nearby prison has escaped. They decide that this is linked to the list received by Dick and they make a plan to do some snooping.

As mentioned before, they end up in an abandoned house which they figure is where some stolen loot is hidden.The five are determined to find the stuff. Unfortunately, a couple of surly criminal-types are also there, for the same reason. And so the race is on: Will the Five crack the case first? Will Anne whimper and wish she were safe at home? Will they feast on potted-meat sandwiches and lashings and lashings of lemonade between snooping sessions? And will Timmy get the living daylights kicked out of him by the crooks?

This is a rather darker book than the others in the series. Must be all the rain, and the ruins the Five hide out in. The episode with the deaf woman who bundles Anne into a sort of hidey hole and Dick's dreamlike encounter with a man whispering his name is also quite deliciously weird.

The Famous Five is my second-favourite of Blyton's adventure series. I love the books mainly for their detailed descriptions of food and certainly not for Julian's bossiness or George going on and on about wanting to be a boy! Dick is the coolest character but what a name!

Every title sees the kids on holiday by themselves, often in some cool location like a castle or island or light house. Once they're all settled in, they see flashing lights or faces in windows or hear something mysterious. It's all very exciting, especially if you're nine, but, I'm 37 and I still like the books so they obviously a good investment. Get them now and enjoy them for life!!

The Famous Five Series

1. Five On a Treasure Island (1942)

2. Five Go Adventuring Again (1942)

3. Five Run Away Together (1944)
aka Five Run Away to Danger
4. Five Go to Smuggler's Top (1945)

Tuesday, June 15, 2004

THE RIVER OF ADVENTURE
By Enid Blyton
(Macmillan Children's Books, 192 pages)
When I wrote about The Mystery of the Pantomime Cat a couple of weeks ago, it was my intention to follow that up with reviews of all my favourite Enid Blytons.

And so, here is the second review, of my favourite book in the Adventure series, which comprises eight books, about Philip, Dinah, Lucy Ann, Jack and Kiki the Parrot.

The children live with Philip and Dinah's mother. In the first book they meet a British secret agent called Bill and they befriend him and help him with the case he's working on. By the time The River of Adventure happens, Bill is married to Philip's mother and has adopted all the children.

At the start of the book, you find that the kids have been ill and need to go away for a rest-cure. It just so happens that Bill has to go abroad on an undercover mission and so he decides to take his family with him so the crooks he's after will think he's just a family man, on vacation.

The family flies to a faraway exotic land and then embark on a river cruise on a houseboat. They are attended to by two native servants towards whom they are very condescending.

Philip, who loves all kinds of animals, gets himself a snake as a pet and Dinah, as usual, throws a hissy fit! Kiki makes everyone laugh with her imitations and Lucy Ann is delicate and timid.

Blyton sticks to her formula right down to the kids getting separated from the adults (Bill's enemies are on to him, and he and his wife are kidnapped) and living on tinned food (pineapple chunks, anyone?).

The children and Kiki go in search of their parents and stumble upon an ancient temple filled with a hoard of treasure.

It's all very thrilling especially the bits in which the river widens as their boat speeds along it and it seems like they are going to crash! I also like it when the kids explore the old temple and the description of the wonders they find there.

Best of all is Sinny Town, a bustling city that is a bit of mystery until the family get up close and realise what it actually is.

Re-reading the book now, it's pretty amazing how Bill is willing to expose his adopted family to danger. And one wonders how in the world he used to solve his cases before he met the children! Hmm ... one gets the impression he is really rather an incompetent secret agent! I mean, fancy getting kidnapped! Reading the scene in which Bill and Mrs Bill get lured out into the night, away from their kids, it's pretty obvious what's going on.

Still, I love the book and the others in the series. It's more exciting that the Mystery books because the stories are all set in strange, rather wild places, and the children come into contact with quite vicious thugs, not just petty village criminals.

When I was little Kiki, the Parrot amused me, but I could do with less of her now. Lucy Ann was my favourite character and I liked the close relationship she had with her cousin, Jack, who I think I had a crush on: He's so brave and kind! Now I think Lucy Ann is a bit of a wimp and prefer Dinah despite (or maybe because of) her fiery temper. She's also very gutsy - when there aren't any animals involved! (Yes, her fear of even the tiniest mouse is rather exasperating.)

I've seen the series in Times Bookstore, MPH and Kinokuniya. There are a couple of different editions including one that is based on the recent Australian TV series. I think these are abridged and they may even be re-written to reflect the telly show.

Sunday, June 06, 2004

My first taste of Enid Blyton's mystery and adventure stories was her Five Find-Outers series, when I was about six. I remember thinking what exciting, grown-up lives these children led. Unfortunately, I was not a very good or thorough reader then - so much so that, for a little while, I thought Peterwood was actually a person rather than the village where the five children lived! I guess even then I was given to skimming paragraphs, paying close attention only to passages that I thought looked particularly interesting.

Anyway, although I used to own all 15 of the books in the series, most of them were lost, mainly lent to friends and never seen again! Of our original set of mysteries, only three very tattered copies remain. The Mystery of the Pantomime Cat is inscribed with my name and the date - 1975!!! Amazing that I've owned this book for nearly 30 years, although I have to say that it sure looks its age ;-) ... and the first seven pages are missing :-(

Still, it retains its distinctive cover, with the picture of a large orange pantomime cat staring out of a window. And the illustrations, by Mary Genat, who supplied the drawings for the whole series, are most certainly the basis of how I imagine the Find-Outers to look like.

I am currently in the midst of buying the new Egmont editions (reissued in 2003) and it's good to know that I will soon own the whole set again. However, I'm sorry to see that they do not contain the Genat illustrations. Also, the covers are rather too cartoonish for my liking. It's true that books should never be judged by their covers, but the fact is they are, all the time, and I'm as guilty of the crime as the next person: I think if I didn't already know these were great books, the covers of these reissues would not tempt me to buy them. (By the way, the cover I've used here belongs to the Hamlyn edition.)

Fortunately, the Find-Outers are old friends and I know that despite their new and unattractive appearance, they will not disappoint!
I spent a happy hour, recently, rereading The Mystery of the Pantomime Cat - my favourite Find-Outer book. I think it's much the juiciest of the 15, with the most exciting, least simplistic plot.

As usual, it's the school holidays and the five children (Fatty, Larry and Daisy, Pip and Bets) and Fatty's Scottish Terrier, Buster, have a mystery to solve. However, things get decidedly dodgy when the police are misled by some fake clues, planted by the five.

The crime (a robbery) takes place in a theatre and the suspects, the cast of a pantomime, all have alibis ... or so they say. It's up to the kids to figure out who's telling lies and in order to do that they have to do a lot of snooping, which, of course, infuriates their arch nemesis, Private Constable Goon.

Actually, I've always found the animosity and rivalry between the Find-Outers and the Goon truly tedious, but there are some decidedly comic encounters in this story, not least when Goon keeps bumping into Fatty and the boy's cheeks look fatter and fatter each time!

Another of my favourite bits in this book is when Fatty and Larry disguise as ruffians to fool Goon's colleague PC Pippin. It's very exciting to read about these boys creeping about in the dark and then crouching in the bushes, whispering away and arousing Pippin's suspicions.

I also love the way the Find-Outers devise ways of meeting the suspects and checking out their various alibis. When I was little, it made me want to solve mysteries too and I'm sure my best friend and I went through a phase of planting false "evidence" for members of our family to find!

I don't know if 21st century creations like Digimon will mean that Enid Blyton's books seem pretty tame to kids these days. I'm hoping my sons will find them as thrilling as I did. The fact that there aren't any monsters in these books could actually work in their favour as they make the possibilty of having a similar adventure very real.

As for the horrendous covers, on reflection, I think they're meant to appeal to the below-9 crowd. My seven-year-old doesn't seem to find them ugly. In fact, he's quite taken with the bright colours and, IMHO, bizarre cartoon figures. Oh, well!

In an earlier post I said that you could get find the Mystery books in all good local bookstores. I lied. I've since visited quite a few, including the MPH at Midvalley Megamall, that do not carry these books. The MPH at the new wing of 1Utama does though.

As for Malaysians living outside the Klang Valley, it's best you call your local bookstore and ask if they stock the books to avoid disappointment. And I'm pretty sure you can get any MPH branch to order them for you.

I hope to write reviews of my other favourite Blyton books and if you have a favourite Blyton, do email me your review and I will post it.

In the meantime, here is a list of the 15 Mystery book. Happy collecting!

1. The Mystery of the Burnt Cottage (1943)
2. The Mystery of the Disappearing Cat (1944)
3. The Mystery of the Secret Room (1945)
4. The Mystery of the Spiteful Letters (1946)
5. The Mystery of the Missing Necklace (1947)
6. The Mystery of the Hidden House (1948)
7. The Mystery of the Pantomine Cat (1949)
8. The Mystery of the Invisible Thief (1950)
9. The Mystery of the Vanished Prince (1951)
10. The Mystery of the Strange Bundle (1952)
11. The Mystery of Holly Lane (1953)
12. The Mystery of the Tally-Ho Cottage (1954)
13. The Mystery of the Missing Man (1956)
14. The Mystery of the Strange Messages (1957)
15. The Mystery of the Banshee Towers (1961)